Rack locking structure

Abstract

The utility model relates to a rack locking structure which comprises a shell, a lock rod, a motor and a transmission mechanism, the lock rod is installed on the shell in a rotary lifting mode, the motor and the transmission mechanism are installed inside the shell, the transmission mechanism comprises a space rack, a gear shaft and a lock plate, the space rack is respectively connected with the motor and the gear shaft, and the lock plate is connected with the motor. And the lock plate is connected with the gear shaft and is matched with the lock rod to realize electric locking and manual electric unlocking of the lock rod. According to the rack locking structure, the motor is connected with the locking plate through the space rack and the gear shaft, force transmission and amplification of a staggered shaft are achieved, the transmission efficiency is high, and assembly is easy.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This utility model relates to vehicles, and more specifically to a rack and pinion locking structure. Background Technology

[0002] An actuator is known to be an automatic opening and closing device for covers (such as fuel tank caps or charging port caps) in vehicles. This automatic opening and closing device includes a housing, a locking lever, and a gear plate. The locking lever is rotatably mounted on the housing, and the gear plate, driven by a motor, is electrically locked by inserting into the locking hole of the locking lever via a worm gear mechanism. On the one hand, the worm gear mechanism suffers from significant transmission efficiency losses, requiring a higher-performance motor, and also imposes high strength requirements on components due to the large axial force. On the other hand, the spatial arrangement of the worm gear is difficult, and the helical gears require rolling assembly, making assembly challenging. Utility Model Content

[0003] To address the problems of high transmission efficiency loss and difficult assembly in the existing technology, this utility model provides a rack and pinion locking structure.

[0004] According to the rack and pinion locking structure of this utility model, it includes a housing, a locking rod, a motor, and a transmission mechanism. The locking rod is rotatably and vertically mounted on the housing. The motor and the transmission mechanism are installed inside the housing. The transmission mechanism includes a spatial rack, a gear shaft, and a locking plate. The spatial rack is connected to the motor and the gear shaft respectively. The locking plate is connected to the gear shaft and cooperates with the locking rod to realize the electric locking and manual / electric unlocking of the locking rod.

[0005] In a preferred embodiment, the transmission mechanism further includes a bracket and an input gear. The bracket is fixedly mounted inside the housing above the motor, the input gear is mounted on the output shaft of the motor, a spatial rack is movably mounted on the bracket and meshes with the input gear, and a gear shaft is mounted on the bracket via a locking plate and meshes with the spatial rack. The locking plate is inserted into the locking hole of the locking rod under the drive of the motor to limit the lifting and lowering movement of the locking rod by electric locking in the mechanical locking position of the locking rod.

[0006] In a preferred embodiment, the spatial rack includes a first tooth and a second tooth that are vertically distributed, wherein the first tooth meshes with the input tooth and the second tooth meshes with the gear shaft.

[0007] In a preferred embodiment, the housing has fixed teeth, and the gear shaft meshes between the fixed teeth and the second teeth.

[0008] In a preferred embodiment, the second tooth is a stepped tooth, the gear shaft is a stepped gear shaft, and the stepped tooth and the stepped gear shaft mesh.

[0009] In a preferred embodiment, the second tooth includes a first tooth portion and a second tooth portion, and the gear shaft includes a third tooth portion and a fourth tooth portion with different diameters, wherein the first tooth portion and the third tooth portion mesh, and the fourth tooth portion meshes with the second tooth portion and the fixed tooth portion respectively.

[0010] In a preferred embodiment, the box body and the box cover are fixedly connected to form an outer shell.

[0011] In a preferred embodiment, the rack and pinion locking structure further includes a spring disposed between the housing and the locking bar to push the locking bar.

[0012] In a preferred embodiment, the rack and pinion locking structure further includes an emergency unlocking structure, which includes a lever, a paddle, and an emergency pull rope. The lever extends through the cover, the paddle is mounted on the extended end of the lever, the emergency pull rope is fixedly mounted on the paddle, and the paddle is connected to the transmission mechanism on the cover to achieve manual emergency unlocking.

[0013] In a preferred embodiment, the lever is rotatably mounted and engages with the spatial rack to push the spatial rack.

[0014] According to the rack and pinion locking structure of this utility model, the motor is connected by a spatial rack, gear shaft and locking plate to realize the force transmission and amplification of the intersecting shafts, which has high transmission efficiency and simple assembly. Attached Figure Description

[0015] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of a rack and pinion locking structure according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

[0016] Figure 2 yes Figure 1 A partial exploded view of the rack and pinion locking structure.

[0017] Figure 3 yes Figure 2 A schematic diagram of the first structure of the transmission mechanism.

[0018] Figure 4 yes Figure 2 A schematic diagram of the spatial rack structure.

[0019] Figure 5 yes Figure 2 The second structural schematic diagram of the transmission mechanism.

[0020] Figure 6 yes Figure 2 A cross-sectional view of the transmission mechanism.

[0021] Figure 7 yes Figure 6 The schematic diagram.

[0022] Figure 8 Similar to Figure 4This is a schematic diagram of the transmission mechanism of the rack and pinion locking structure according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention.

[0023] Figure 9 yes Figure 1 A top view of the rack and pinion locking structure. Detailed Implementation

[0024] The preferred embodiments of this utility model are given below with reference to the accompanying drawings and described in detail.

[0025] like Figures 1-2 As shown, a preferred embodiment of the rack and pinion locking structure according to the present invention includes a housing 1, a cover 2, a locking rod 3, a spring 4, a motor 5, and a transmission mechanism 6. The housing 1 and the cover 2 are fixedly connected to form a shell. The locking rod 3 is rotatably and vertically mounted on the shell 1 via the spring 4. The motor 5 and the transmission mechanism 6 are installed inside the shell. The transmission mechanism 6 is connected to the motor 5 and cooperates with the locking rod 3 to achieve electric locking of the locking rod 3.

[0026] In this embodiment, the spring 4 is disposed between the bottom of the housing 1 and the locking rod 3 to push the locking rod 3.

[0027] In this embodiment, the transmission mechanism 6 includes a bracket 61, an input gear 62, a spatial rack 63, a gear shaft 64, and a locking plate 65. The bracket 61 is fixedly mounted inside the housing above the motor 5. The input gear 62 is mounted on the output shaft of the motor 5. The spatial rack 63 is movably mounted on the bracket 61 and meshes with the input gear 62. The gear shaft 64 is mounted on the bracket 61 via the locking plate 65 and meshes with the spatial rack 63. Driven by the motor 5, the locking plate 65 is inserted into the locking hole of the locking rod 3 to electrically lock and restrict the lifting and lowering movement of the locking rod 3 in its mechanically locked position. Specifically, when the motor 5 is energized, the input gear 62 drives the gear shaft 64 to rotate, causing the locking tongue of the locking plate 65 to enter the locking hole of the locking rod 3. In this embodiment, as... Figure 3 As shown, the bracket 61 has a support rib 611, and the locking plate 65 is sleeved on the gear shaft 64 and supported on the support rib 611 to move with the gear shaft 64.

[0028] like Figure 4 As shown, the spatial rack 63 includes a first tooth 631 and a second tooth 632 that are vertically distributed, as... Figure 5 As shown, the first tooth 631 meshes with the input tooth 62, and the second tooth 632 meshes with the gear shaft 64. Thus, the spatial rack 63 solves the problem of changing the direction of gear force transmission, achieving force transmission along intersecting axes (the axis of the input tooth 62 and the axis of the gear shaft 64 are perpendicularly intersecting). Through the spatial rack 63, the transmission mechanism 6 of this invention achieves both direction conversion and high transmission efficiency, and is simple to assemble.

[0029] like Figure 6 As shown, the cover 2 has a fixed tooth 21, and the gear shaft 64 meshes between the fixed tooth 21 and the second tooth 632. This is similar to a movable pulley mechanism, such as... Figure 7 As shown, the force value of the gear shaft 64 is twice the force value F of the spatial rack 63. Thus, through the fixed teeth 21 on the outer casing, the transmission mechanism 6 of this invention can amplify the force.

[0030] In existing technologies, transmission mechanisms include planetary gears that mesh with input gears, and these planetary gears are mounted via planet carriers. In this prior art, the mounting of the planet carrier requires image recognition to ensure the planetary gears are properly fitted onto the carrier's mounting shaft. In contrast, this invention not only has a compact structure but also simple assembly; the spatial rack 63 and gear shaft 64 are simply stacked and mounted on the bracket 61, without involving image recognition. Furthermore, the transmission mechanism 6 of this invention has a larger dimensional tolerance, relatively lower precision requirements, and lower cost.

[0031] In another preferred embodiment of this utility model, such as Figure 8 As shown, the second tooth 632 of the spatial rack 63 is a stepped tooth and includes a first tooth portion 632a and a second tooth portion 632b. The gear shaft 64 is a stepped gear shaft and includes a third tooth portion 64a and a fourth tooth portion 64b with different diameters. The first tooth portion 632a and the third tooth portion 64a mesh, and the fourth tooth portion 64b meshes with the second tooth portion 632b and the fixed tooth 21, respectively. This utilizes the stepped gear shaft or stepped teeth to achieve a larger transmission ratio, resulting in high platformization and production line sharing rates. In existing technologies, for example, the actuator force for locking a fuel tank cap is insufficient, often requiring a complex structure to increase the force. This invention solves the problem of insufficient force by using stepped teeth to select the transmission ratio as needed, while simultaneously achieving multiple transmission ratios.

[0032] Back Figures 1-2 According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the rack and pinion locking structure further includes a lever 7, a paddle 8, and an emergency pull rope 9. The lever 7 is rotatably mounted on a bracket 61 and engages with a spatial rack 63 to push the rack 63. The lever 7 extends through the cover 2. The paddle 8 is mounted on the extended end of the lever 7. The emergency pull rope 9 is fixedly mounted on the paddle 8. The paddle 8 is connected to the transmission mechanism 6 on the cover 2 to achieve manual emergency unlocking. Figure 9 As shown, manually pulling the emergency pull rope 9 transmits force to the lever 8. The lever 8 transmits force to the lever 7 through the buckle, causing it to rotate, thereby driving the spatial rack 63 to move. When the spatial rack 63 moves, it drives the gear shaft 64 and the locking plate 65 to move, thereby realizing manual emergency unlocking and electric locking.

[0033] The above description is merely a preferred embodiment of this utility model and is not intended to limit the scope of this utility model. Various variations can be made to the above embodiments of this utility model. That is, all simple and equivalent changes and modifications made based on the claims and description of this utility model application fall within the protection scope of the claims of this utility model patent. Any aspects of this utility model not described in detail are conventional technical content.

Claims

1. A rack and pinion locking structure, characterized in that, The rack and pinion locking structure includes a housing, a locking rod, a motor, and a transmission mechanism. The locking rod is rotatably and vertically mounted on the housing. The motor and transmission mechanism are installed inside the housing. The transmission mechanism includes a spatial rack, a gear shaft, and a locking plate. The spatial rack is connected to the motor and the gear shaft, respectively. The locking plate is connected to the gear shaft and cooperates with the locking rod to achieve electric locking and manual / electric unlocking of the locking rod.

2. The rack and pinion locking structure according to claim 1, characterized in that, The transmission mechanism also includes a bracket and an input gear. The bracket is fixedly installed inside the housing above the motor. The input gear is installed on the output shaft of the motor. The spatial rack is movably installed on the bracket and meshes with the input gear. The gear shaft is installed on the bracket via a locking plate and meshes with the spatial rack. The locking plate is inserted into the locking hole of the locking rod under the drive of the motor to limit the lifting and lowering movement of the locking rod by electric locking in the mechanical locking position of the locking rod.

3. The rack and pinion locking structure according to claim 2, characterized in that, The spatial rack includes a first tooth and a second tooth that are vertically distributed, wherein the first tooth meshes with the input tooth and the second tooth meshes with the gear shaft.

4. The rack and pinion locking structure according to claim 3, characterized in that, The outer casing has fixed teeth, and the gear shaft meshes between the fixed teeth and the second tooth.

5. The rack and pinion locking structure according to claim 4, characterized in that, The second tooth is a stepped tooth, and the gear shaft is a stepped gear shaft. The stepped tooth and the stepped gear shaft mesh.

6. The rack and pinion locking structure according to claim 5, characterized in that, The second tooth includes a first tooth section and a second tooth section, and the gear shaft includes a third tooth section and a fourth tooth section with different diameters, wherein the first tooth section and the third tooth section mesh, and the fourth tooth section meshes with the second tooth section and the fixed tooth respectively.

7. The rack and pinion locking structure according to claim 1, characterized in that, The box body and the lid are fixedly connected to form an outer shell.

8. The rack and pinion locking structure according to claim 7, characterized in that, The rack and pinion locking mechanism also includes a spring, which is positioned between the housing and the locking bar to push the locking bar.

9. The rack and pinion locking structure according to claim 7, characterized in that, The rack and pinion locking structure also includes an emergency unlocking mechanism, which includes a lever, a paddle, and an emergency pull rope. The lever extends through the cover, the paddle is installed on the extended end of the lever, the emergency pull rope is fixedly installed on the paddle, and the paddle is connected to the transmission mechanism on the cover to achieve manual emergency unlocking.

10. The rack and pinion locking structure according to claim 9, characterized in that, The lever is rotatably mounted and engages with the spatial rack to actuate the spatial rack.

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